Reading Between The Lines
by ForensicDragons
Summary: Its her fifth year at Hogwarts and Brielle Renner is a background character in a bigger picture than she could ever have imagined.(Fred/OC)
1. Prolouge

Prologue 

In a world occupied by magic, there are many witches and wizards that are of importance. Some are brave, courageous aurors while others are great and powerful sorcerers. Some are teachers who spare the time to share their knowledge and some are ordinary civilians that we pass in the street that are important in their own special way. But every now and again you find one with that extra spark. The background character in a bigger picture than they could ever have imagined. This is the tale of a girl that made all the difference in a story that would shape the world. This is the story of Brielle Renner.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Which came first, the Phoenix, or the flame?" I hear the eagle ask. I ponder for a moment.

"The flame?" The eagle ruffled his stone feathers and turned his head.

"Incorrect" he informed. Damn.

My name is Brielle Renner, I'm in my fifth year here at Hogwarts and I'm a Ravenclaw, although I must admit, a pretty poor one. How I made it into this house I'll never know. I've never answered a single riddle correctly in my five years at this school and there have been nights of camping out in the corridor because of it. Normally I wait until Luna comes to the rescue or someone gives me sympathy. I have long, straight, red hair which often gets me mistaken for a Weasley (no surprises there) but actually I'm related to the Grangers, Hermione's cousin in fact. Seems the intelligence stayed on her side of the family whereas I inherited my dad's Hufflepuff persona. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course! Although I do possess the useful quality of being an animagus, a ginger tabby to match my hair I guess but it did have its uses. Want a late night stroll around the school? Or perhaps a trip to the kitchen for a snack? No problem, transform into a common pet and the castle is yours.

"Brielle?" I snapped out of my dismay.

"Luna! Oh thank god the riddle's too hard and I really, really need to get my stuff and..." she waved a hand to silence me and glanced at the eagle to which he sprung to life and turned to face her.

"What came first, the phoenix, or the flame?" she to pondered for a moment but for a fraction of the time I took. "A circle has no beginning" she answered and watched as the eagle revealed the entrance to the common room. "How did you do that?" I asked in amazement.

"It's really not that hard, they're nearly always the most obvious of answers" she said before stepping inside and disappearing up into the dormitories. Obvious? There was nothing obvious about that answer I thought before I stepped inside and made my way up the spiral staircase to the dormitory.

I didn't bother to hang around the common room for long, I don't have many friends in Ravenclaw and I'd rather not look like too much of a loser. I tend to make friends outside of my house you see, Gryffindor preferably, since I'm fairly sure I belong there more than I do here. Lunch was fairly soon so I figured my best option for now was to head to the hall and hope that someone I knew was there. Wow I need more friends. I'd barely made it five meters away from the common room before I'd publicly humiliated myself, tripping into a podium and knocking over the stone bird that once rested upon it. As I lay as a crumpled heap on the floor, along with the sound of everyone's laugher, I heard the unmistakable sound of the Weasley twins and their ever taunting laugh.

"Watch yourself Bri!" I heard George call through their fits of laughter while walking over and towering above me.

"You alright down there?" Fred asked before offering me his hand to help me up.

"I'm fine, the floor just needed a hug," I said before accepting Fred's help.

"Floors don't have feelings Bri,"

"Stop personifying things Bri,"

"That's a fancy word for you!" I smirked,

"Shush you," Fred said through his grin.

"Anyway we're going to the hall, you coming?" George asked as they walked away slowly, beckoning me to follow. I caught up quickly "Yeah sure," I replied and I could practically feel Fred's smile radiating of his face.

Nobody seems to mind anymore that I sit at the Gryffindor table, probably out of pity, but I never sit with my own house if I can avoid it. I occasionally sit with Luna but that's only for dinner where everyone must be at their own table, and special occasions. It's not that I dislike Luna, I love her really, but sometimes you just need a break from her as horrible as that sounds. I sat opposite Fred and George today, listening to their ridiculous plans and pranks, news about the quiddich this year and what weird and wonderful new products they were developing. But then, a new topic arose.

"So you know that new defence against the dark arts teacher?" I looked up from my food.

"What Umbridge? Always in pink?" I chimed in.

"Yeah that's her," Fred replied, "I reckon she's been sent by the ministry to spy on us students."

"What for?" I asked while taking another bite of my lunch.

"To see if were in contact with Dumbledore dumbass," George said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world,

"Why would it matter if we were in contact?"

"God Bri, do you read the news?" George asked.

"Muggle parents, no wizarding news in our household,"

"Well that explains why you haven't heard," Fred began, "So basically the ministry has it in for Dumbledore because of the whole 'You Know Who' returning stuff last year,"

"So they basically think that Cedric just dropped dead out of nowhere and Harry's a liar?" I questioned.

"Seems like it, they've got it in for Harry too you know."

"Saying he's crazy and all that." George added,

"Oh and they think Dumbledore wants the ministers job." Fred finished.

"So in other words the Ministry is in denial and they have their heads too far up their asses to even consider for a moment that we might have a situation." Fred and George laughed at my bluntness,

"Well yes but shush, Umbridge will murder you with opinions like that."

We spent the rest of lunch chatting about everything and nothing which is always nice. The twins had to leave suddenly, something to do with Lee Jordan's tarantula I think, so I took that as my queue to begin walking towards my next lesson of the day. Charms, to be exact. Just as I was gathering my stuff up from around me Hermione, Harry and Ron sat down beside me.

"Hermione hi!" I said, cheery as ever.

"Oh... Hi Brielle." She muttered half-heartedly. Me and Hermione have never seen eye-to-eye. We're the same age but we just never got on. It might have something to do with the fact that when we were five, my aunt told me that if I let her guinea pig out of his hutch never to be seen again, then she'd buy me a Mcdonalds. As you can guess, Hermione found me throwing the poor thing into a nearby field but at the end of the day I did get a box of McNuggets so it wasn't a complete waste of my time and family relations.

"Wow you seem pleased to see me, hi Harry, hi Ron!" I replied, still in my cheery tone,

"Hey Brielle" they said in unison

"Well I'd best be off, wouldn't want to disturb your little mothers meeting," I winked at Hermione and walked out of the hall towards Charms. I've got a feeling this will be an interesting year.

* * *

A/N so this is my first attempt at a fic, Please be nice :3


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Charms was abysmal as usual, it will be a Christmas miracle if I achieve even a D in that subject. We'd attempted a simple colour change charm and where as naturally my fellow classmates managed to successfully change the iguana from green to red, mine went a funny off-brown-vomit shade which let's face it, will not get me far in life. Neither will changing the colour of a iguana but never mind. Just like most people I was excited about getting to defence against the dark arts. Not because Umbridge will be a fabulous teacher and she'll have hundreds of new exciting ways to bore us to death but, well. Let's just say I've heard rumours. Rumours about her quills slicing into your skin. Rumours about her 'official ministry business'. Rumours that –in general- she's just not a happy bunny.

Unfortunately that'll have to wait as my decent into her torture chamber, as I've decided to call her room, wouldn't be until Thursday but at least it gave me time to focus on my other lessons. Take potions for example, it's hard enough to get anything done when your life is constantly threatened by the one and only Neville Longbottom who happens to share a desk with you let alone actually brewing a successful potion.

I finally had a free period so I wandered up towards the Ravenclaw common room, secretly praying that someone had already answered the riddle and to my great fortune I spotted Cho who was just passing the eagle. I sped up and slipped past the statue just before it closed.

"Bri!" I looked over my shoulder just before I reached the stairs, "Come here!" Cho shouted from the nearby sofas. I walked over and jumped over the back of the sofa, successfully landing on the cushions. "And what can I do for you today?" I asked.

"Nothing actually, I just wanted to show you something," she said as she rummaged through her pocket. "I got them developed in the holidays." She passed me a small handful of what appered to be photographs. I examined them closer and they were indeed photos of last year's Yule ball.

"Oh wow I didn't know people were taking pictures..."

"There are some lovely ones of you" she smiled. I wasn't convinced though. Among the beautiful pictures of Cho, Me, Cedric and various other Ravenclaws, there was also several of when I tripped and over a Durmstrang cloak and fell into the punch bowl.

"You can keep some if you'd like," she said, still smiling. Probably realised what photo I'm staring at.

"I'd love to, thanks." I shuffled through the pictures removing anything that caught my eye. The fruit punch fall, Luna and Neville dancing –I'll give it to her later- , Me and Cho standing with our dates, and so forth. I handed the remaining cards back to her, thanking her once more before disappearing up into the dormitories.

Free periods never last as long as you'd like them too and soon enough I found myself walking towards the dark and gloomy corridors of the dungeons to potions. I had run into Luna somewhere around the first floor and stopped to hand her the photo which she seemed to be delighted to receive. It was nice to see her smile about something real for once and not the discovery of another breed of nargle or something. Unfortunately this brief encounter meant I would be a few minutes late, not that I minded, but I'm sure Professor Snape would have something to say. Most likely about me being 'not punctual' or 'unorganised' but to be honest, I'm beyond caring for potions. I soon reached the dungeons which were as dark and damp as ever. At least the spiders looked at home I thought to myself as I passed the millionth cobweb. Reaching the enterance to the Snapes class room I took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the door to which eyes instantly fixed on me.

"Miss Renner what a pleasant surprise, it appears you bothered to show up to my lesson," Snape said harshly, his sharp eyes locked onto me watching my every move. "You are ten minutes late for my lesson therefore ten points from Ravenclaw, now sit down." He snapped.

After the usual routine of helping Neville not set fire to his robes, or anyone else's robes for that matter, I headed towards the Lake. When I had enough time, I would sit there for hours and watch the giant squid. They're friendly really. By the time I'd arrived at my usual spot, someone had beat me to it.

"Fred?" I asked uncertainly, could be George for all I know.

"Brielle?" He said turning around, "what are you doing here?"

"Could ask you the same thing, where's George?" I said, sitting down next to him.

"Oh he got a detention from Umbridge, he'll be here soon."

"What's she like then? I asked,

"Honestly? She's a bitch."

* * *

A/N I'm sorry I took a while to update but here it is! Thank you everyone for the positive feedback, keep it coming and tell me what you think! :3


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Thursday. Urgh.

Normally I would look forward to Thursdays, true double potions in the morning dragged on for what felt like eternity but at least charms in the afternoon made up for it. But of course, today was different. Today would be the day I would discover if what I had been warned was true.

Fred had told me about how she would keep students behind in detention with special quills that sliced into your skin as you wrote but to be honest, it just sounded like a first year horror story that was floating around to scare of potential-Weasley-wannabees that would try to disrupt lessons. Most likely started by Fred and George themselves of course.

"Oi Bri!"

I put down my toast and sighed. Is it too much to ask to eat breakfast in peace these days? Fred and George sat down opposite me holding a bizarre looking box.

"Good luck with Umbridge later,"

"And if it doesn't go well," George slid the box across the table.

"You could always be our first test subject for these beauties!"

"And what the hell are they?" I asked as I opened the box and was presented with an array of different coloured sweets.

"Puking pastilles." Fred replied with pride.

"Clues in the name," George added before helping himself to a slice of my toast.

"Gets you out of class pretty easily, or at least that's the theory"

"You might die of dehydration first but were working on that."

I laughed and slid the box back in their direction,

"You know what, I think I'm good."

"Suit yourself!" Fred laughed before rummaging through his pocket, "but I um... I got you these, they're not poisonous I promise," he said as he threw a small box in my general direction. I say general since it hit the third year next to me causing him to turn around and glare angrily for a few moments. "Any way I really must be going, places to be, people to see," He said as he got up from the table hastily and practically running out of the hall without glancing back. George stared at him for a moment or so before turning back to face me.

"What on earth has got into him?"

"Hell if I know," I said.

"Those aren't poisonous though, you know." He said, "But I suppose I'd better catch up with him, just check if he's ok, you know, manly stuff."

I laughed, "Yeah sure you do that," I winked at him as he got up and headed in the direction that Fred took off. I stared down at the package and came to the conclusion that If I didn't open it, it would probably explode knowing Fred. I tore of the wrapping and carefully opened the box to face a beautiful assortment of finely decorated chocolates which looked at lot more safe than the pastilles. I smiled to myself before gathering up my stuff and walking out of the softly lit hall and into the big wide world of responsibility and lessons.

I don't know how teachers expect us to keep our sanity or have any free time at all. We'd only been back for a week at the most and already I'd been given a foot-and-a-half long essay on giant wars from Professor Binns, a foot on the use of moonstone from Snape, a two month dream diary to complete from Trelawney and not to mention the countless hours were expected to practise our wand movements for charms. I could only expect to receive more from Umbridge the way this term was going.

As I entered the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom for the first time this year, the first thing that hit me was how much it'd changed. All the new teachers bring something new to the room. A change of layout, self portraits, odd creatures, auror gadgets, but this year the room smelt strongly of cheep perfume and the once brown and grey colour scheme was now replaced with shades of pale pink and many pictures of cats. Umbridge was already seated at the teacher's desk wearing her tacky pink cardigan and matching bow for her hair. I took my seat and waited for the rest of the class to file in behind me. There was an unnatural hush that washed over the classroom as her piercing eyes appeared to see straight into our souls. When everyone had finally located their seats, the lesson began.

"Well, good afternoon!" she said expecting an enthusiastic reply. All she received were a few murmurs, a mix between hello's and good afternoon. I however stayed silent.

"Tut, tut" she sighed, "That won't do, now will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge'. One more time, please. Good afternoon class!"

"Good afternoon Professor Umbridge," The class chanted back, minus a few people including me who chose to mime their reply.

"There now," said Umbridge with her sickening smile, "That wasn't so bad, was it? Now. Wands away, quills out please." She said as she turned to face the blackboard. The class took this opportunity to exchange miserable looks. The only fun thing about defence against the dark arts was the practical work, it was never any fun to just copy. I stuffed my wand into my pocket and reached into my bag for a quill and parchment and placed it on my desk. Meanwhile Umbridge has taken out her own wand and tapped it gently on the board and the words 'Defence Against The Dark Arts; A Return To Basic Principles' had appeared instantly.

"Well now, your teaching in this subject has been rather disrupted and fragmented, hasn't it?" stated Professor Umbridge. I instantly thought of all our previous teachers and their 'tragically' short residence at this teaching post.

"The constant changing of teachers, many of whom do not seem to have followed Ministry-approved curriculum, has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your OWL year." She continued to stare at the class with her hands clasped tightly together in front of her. "You will be please to know that these problems can be rectified." Once more, Umbridge tapped the board with her wand and the words 'Course Aims' appeared at once.

"Copy these down please." The room was filled with the scratching sound of quill to parchment and everybody hurried to note down the aims that had appeared. Not soon after had we finished, books were being taken out of bags and the faint whisper of disappointed pupils filled the air.

"I'd like you to turn to Chapter 1, Basics For Beginners. There will be no need to talk." I opened my book and added my sigh to the collection as I felt all intelligence I ever had being mocked. The chapter literally was first year knowledge. Glancing around the class, I could tell that everyone shared the same opinion, that they would rather be listening to Professor Binns drone on about goblin civil war than whatever garbage filled these pages. However Hermione was fixated on Umbridge, the look that she was about to say something stupid covered her face. Slowly but surely she raised her hand.

"Do you want to ask something about the chapter dear?" Umbridge asked.

"Not about the chapter no," said Hermione.

"Well we're reading just now, If you have queries, we can deal with them at the end of the class."

"I have a query about your course aims." Hermione said, bravely. Here we go.

"And your name is?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear," Umbridge replied in her tone of sickening sweetness.

"But there's nothing about using defensive spells." Umbridge seemed almost taken aback by Hermione's statement, as if it had offended her personally.

"Well I can't imagine why you would require to use defensive spells! You surely arn't expecting to be attacked in my class?"

"So we're not going to use magic?" I added, surprised at my own bravery to speak up,

"Students will raise their wands when they wish to speak Miss-"

"Renner." I said while holding my hand high into the air, "Surely the whole point of this lesson is to prepare us for what's out there."

"And what could possibly be out there that would harm children like yourselves!"

"Oh I don't know, Voldemort?" Harry chimed in, causing the entire class to fall silent. Cedric's death was still fresh on our minds.

"Now let me make things quite plain." She began to pace around the classroom, maintaining eye contact with Harry. "You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead-"

"He wasn't dead," Harry said, angrily.

"Mr Potter, do not make things worse for yourself. As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dar wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

"It's NOT a lie!" Harry shouted. "I saw him, I fought him!

"Detention, Mr Potter!" Umbridge said triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening, five o'clock. My office. I repeat this is a lie. Now would you kindly return to page five, chapter one."

Professor Umbridge sat behind her desk with triumph. I couldn't stand the look on Harry's face any longer. It was twisted with the pain of no one believing him for an event which no one can even imagine what it's like to witness.

"So, according to you, Cedric dropped dead of his own accord." I said. My voice shaky with the fear of speaking out.

"Cedric's death was a tragic accident." She replied coldly.

"It was murder," said Harry. The whole class now was focused on Harry, his body shaking from the rage that filled him. "Voldemort killed him and you know it." Umbridge's expression was blank. She appeared to be torn between screaming at him and not reacting at all. Finally she scribbled a note and in her sickliest voice said, "Come here, Mr Potter, dear." I watched Harry kick his chair to the side as he stormed up to face her.

"Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," Harry took the note from her and left the room with out saying another word. The class remained silent and nervously began to reopen their books. Umbridge returned to her chair before looking at me, raising an eyebrow, smirking and saying,

"Miss Renner?" I raised my head slowly to fix my gaze on her.

"Detention."

* * *

A/N I am so so so so so sorry this took so long to update, I've had so much on my mind, GCSE drama is a week away, my sister was in hospital and overall I've just been busy, but its here! Thank you everyone for the positive feedback and can anyone suggest a way to build Fred and Brielle's relationship? I'm not quite sure how to do it and I'm worried that my inability to write fluffy scenes may ruin the story some-what :/


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

10 minutes. That's all I had until I would be sat at a small desk in Umbridge's office awaiting whatever punishment she would throw at me. Of course I've heard rumours but then again, forcing you to eat deep fried dragon balls sounds a little exaggerated. The seconds dragged by as I paced the corridor. I'd gotten there early since there was no way I'd risk being late, not to someone with her authority and attitude. 5 minutes. My feet dragged nervously across the corridor's aged floor. 2 minutes. My heart began to race from nerves. Strange. I've never been this nervous for something as simple as a detention before. 1 minuet. I froze mid pace to stare at the clock, watching the second hand edge towards the hour. I was greeted by the creaking of hinges and a sickly sweet voice. "Miss Renner dear, do come in."

I staggered out of the office clutching my hand as I walked back towards the common room, tears being to stream from my eyes. I gave a subtle smile to a panic stricken Harry as I passed him in the corridor before breaking into a run. My hand felt as if it was on fire. I could feel the words etching constantly into my skin getting deeper and deeper every second. Luna would know what to do, I thought as I approached the Eagle that guarded the common room.

"Where do vanished objects go?" The eagle asked as he sprung to life.

"Oh for fucks sake this really isn't the time for riddles!" I cried, "Please, look I have uniform! I just need to get inside and-"

"No Answer, no entry" The eagle said coldly before becoming motionless. I finally let the tears flow from my eyes as I sank to the floor, still clutching my hand. Now what was I supposed to do. Nobody was ever in the corridors this late, teachers wouldn't come this way, no one would find me till morning and then what. I'll just deal with the laughs from the older years that I got every time something like this happened. I backed up against the wall and tucked myself into a ball still allowing myself to cry after all, no one would be around to hear.

"Bri?"

I looked up slightly, recognising the voice.

"Bri is that you?"

I nodded slowly. "F-Fred?" I choked out.

"Oh my god Bri, are you ok?" He said as he ran towards me.

"N-no," I shook my head as sat down next to me, wrapping his arms around me

"What happened? Is Umbridge really that horrible?"

I nodded, to full of tears for words, and presented him with my hand with the freshly cut sentence of 'My opinion is not necessary', blood still dripping from a few of the letters.

"You were r-right" I forced a laugh at this, remembering the chilling tales he was telling me that the first years had been told.

"well yeah but this is horrible! You could report her you know, dad could do something I mean-"

I shook my head once more, silencing him. "There's nothing that can be done. Guess we've just gotta keep our heads down and get on with everything." I sighed.

He pulled me into a tighter hug allowing me to cry on his shoulder silently. "No don't do that! You're just giving her what she wants if you do that you know. In fact, I don't think there's ever been a better time to rebel than now," I laughed silently at his words. "Hey," he began before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cupcake. "George sent me on a kitchen run but I think you need this more than we do," I took the cake and forced a smile through the still forming tears.

"Thank you,"

"Don't mention it," He looked to the eagle, "I'm guessing you can't get in?"

"How'd you guess?"

"You could always come up to the Gryffindor common room, I'll make a bed for you on the sofa, find you a blanket, it'd be better than staying out here all night."

"I'd like that," I smiled

"Then let's go! It's getting cold out here," He helped me up before pulling me back into a hug.

"I'll always be here to help you ok? You need anything and I'll be here I promise,"

All I could do was smile. To know that someone's there when you need them the most is a feeling that no words can truly describe. No amount of thank you's could ever get across how much you mean them. He finally released me from his hug before taking my hand into his. "If anyone asks why you're there in the morning just say it's my fault ok?"

"Okay,"

"And I'll sort out your hand for you, because you know, I've dealt with a lot of magical injuries, shouldn't be too hard,

Again I laughed. This time at the image of the twins emerging from their rooms after days of solitude covered in smoke and half burnt away eyebrows. Together we made our way towards the Gryffindor common room, Fred doing most of the talking, me mostly listening, wiping away tears and eating my cupcake.

The Gryffindor common room is certainly a lot more welcoming than the Ravenclaw room. While it was grand, elegant, simple, the Gryffindor common room was warm, homely, comforting with the fire still roaring and the soft sound of rain hitting the windows. Fred had retrieved a blanket from somewhere and set me up a makeshift bed. He'd fixed my hand as best he could but faint scars would be a constant reminder of what a monster Umbridge truly was. I was curled up in the blanket as Fred sat on the floor beside me making conversation every now and again.

"You know, there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up,"

"mmhmm," I mumbled

"Do you want to come with me and George?"

"I'd love that."

* * *

A/N: I'M SO SORRY GUYS ITS BEEN TO LONG I'M SORRY I REALLY AM I'M BACK but don't expect updates to be that frequent, what with exams and stuff BUT HAVE SOME FLUFF TO MAKE UP FOR IT yes long awaited and needed fluff :3

I'm thinking of changing my pen name so don't be surprised If I'm suddenly not ForensicDragons :)


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